ORGANIC LIGHT EMITTING DIODE DISPLAY AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME

• US 20110133215A1
• Filed: 05/13/2010
• Published: 06/09/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Mobile Display Company Limited (Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.)
• Inventors: KANG, Jin-Goo, Kim, Mu-Hyun
• Granted Patent: US 8,866,162 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 257/88
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/1201 Manufacture or treatment
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 59/1315 comprising structures specially adapted for lowering the resistance
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/00 Manufacture or treatment specially adapted for the organic devices covered by this subclass
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/135 using ink-jet printing
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/16 using physical vapour deposition [PVD], e.g. vacuum deposition or sputtering
• CPC Class Codes: H10K 71/40 Thermal treatment, e.g. annealing in the presence of a solvent vapour

Abstract

A method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display includes forming an upper electrode power source line outside of a pixel area over a substrate, forming a lower electrode in the pixel area, forming at least one layer of an organic material layer in the pixel area and areas outside of the pixel area, forming an upper electrode in the pixel area, selectively removing portions of the organic material layer that are exposed outside of the upper electrode, thereby exposing the upper electrode power source line, and coating a conductive material between the upper electrode and the upper electrode power source line in a normal pressure condition such that the conductive material overlaps the upper electrode and the upper electrode power source line, thereby forming a connection portion.

Claims

1. A method of manufacturing an organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, the method comprising:

forming an upper electrode power source line outside of a pixel area over a substrate;

forming a lower electrode in the pixel area;

forming at least one layer of an organic material layer in the pixel area and in an area outside of the pixel area;

forming an upper electrode in the pixel area;

selectively removing a portion of the organic material layer exposed outside of the upper electrode to expose the upper electrode power source line; and

coating a conductive material between the upper electrode and the upper electrode power source line under a normal pressure condition such that the conductive material forms a connection portion which overlaps the upper electrode and the upper electrode power source line.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the organic material layer comprises a multilayer of a hole injection layer and a hole transport layer.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising forming an emission layer, an electron transport layer, and an electron injection layer over the hole transport layer in the pixel area before forming the upper electrode.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the organic material layer is a multilayer of a hole injection layer, a hole transport layer, an electron transport layer, and an electron injection layer.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising forming an emission layer on the hole transport layer in the pixel area before forming the electron transport layer.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the emission layer is formed for every subpixel in the pixel area using an inkjet printing method.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the upper electrode is formed using any one of a vacuum deposition method and a sputtering method.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the selectively removing the portion of the organic material layer exposed outside of the upper electrode comprises using any one of a laser radiation method and a plasma etch method on the portion with the pixel area being protected by the upper electrode.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the coating the conductive material comprises using any one of a screen printing method, an inkjet printing method, a nozzle printing method, and an offset printing method to coat the conductive material and form the connection portion.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the formed connection portion comprises nanoparticles of at least one of aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), gold (Au), palladium (Pd), and platinum (Pt), and has a thickness of 20 nm to 1 mm.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the upper electrode power source line is formed simultaneously with a formation of a portion of a thin film transistor in the pixel area.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein

the thin film transistor comprises a gate electrode, a source electrode and a drain electrode placed over the gate electrode, and an interlayer insulating layer interposed between the gate electrode and the source and drain electrodes, and

the upper electrode power source line is formed simultaneously with the source electrode and the drain electrode.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

forming an insulating film over the source electrode, the drain electrode, and the upper electrode power source line; and

forming a contact hole in the formed insulating film through which the drain electrode is exposed and another contact hole in the formed insulating film through which the upper electrode power source line is exposed.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the lower electrode is connected to the drain electrode through the contact hole formed in the insulating film.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the connection portion connects the upper electrode and the upper electrode power source line exposed by the another contact hole formed in the insulating film.

16. An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, comprising:

a plurality of organic light emitting elements, each organic light emitting element being formed in a pixel area over a substrate and having a lower electrode, and an organic emission layer;

an upper electrode formed in the pixel area over the organic emission layers;

an upper electrode power source line formed at an outside of the pixel area; and

a connection portion formed between the upper electrode and the upper electrode power source line such that the connection portion overlaps the upper electrode and the upper electrode power source line,

wherein the connection portion comprises nanoparticles of at least one of aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), gold (Au), palladium (Pd), and platinum (Pt), and has a thickness of 20 nm to 1 mm.

17. The OLED display of claim 16, wherein the upper electrode has a thickness of 5 nm to 200 nm.

18. An organic light emitting diode (OLED) display, comprising:

a plurality of organic light emitting elements, each organic light emitting element being formed in a pixel area over a substrate and having a lower electrode, and an organic emission layer;

an upper electrode formed in the pixel area over the organic emission layers;

an upper electrode power source line formed at an area outside of the pixel area; and

a connection portion formed on and electrically connecting the upper electrode and the upper electrode power source line, the connection portion comprising a mixture of an organic material and conductive particles.

19. The OLED display of claim 18, wherein the connection portion is thicker than the upper electrode.

20. The OLED display of claim 19, wherein the connection portion has a thickness of at or between 20 nm and 1 mm, and the formed upper electrode has a thickness of at or between 5 nm and 200 nm.

21. The OLED display of claim 18, wherein the conductive particles comprises nanoparticles of at least one of aluminum (Al), copper (Cu), gold (Au), palladium (Pd), and platinum (Pt), and has a thickness of 20 nm to 1 mm.

22. The OLED display of claim 18, wherein the connection portion is formed on the upper electrode and the upper electrode power source line using a printing process, and the upper electrode is formed on the organic emission layer using a thin film process.

23. The OLED display of claim 18, further comprising an insulating layer on which the lower electrodes are formed and having, for each organic light emitting element, a contact hole extending to the upper electrode power source line, wherein the connection portion comprises connection elements and each connection element extends into only one of the contact holes to contact the upper electrode power source line.

24. The OLED display of claim 18, further comprising an insulating layer on which the lower electrodes are formed and having, for each organic light emitting element, a contact hole extending to the upper electrode power source line, wherein the connection portion comprises a single sheet extending into the contact holes.